Age of Empires II multiplayer game connection problem

Well recently i decided to pull back a my old Age of Empires II game out of the shelf, reinstall it and play it. I sorta got bored of all the hl2 and hl mods i had been playing. Anyways the problem I am having is the fact that when i try joining the multiplayer game (the host has already launched), i always get disconnected and it says i am unable to join the game. I believe the problem has to do with the fact that i use a router though i am not sure still.
As for what i have tried:
taking down my firewall
making sure the firewall sees it as an exception
making sure all the right ports are open (not sure if this is right)
changing the compatibility to windows 2000
reinstalling and updating with the right update (the 2.0 A patch)

I checked to see what ports are open, and i believe that all the ports are open or something, i am not entirely sure if the thing i used to check my ports was right are not. Anyways, anyone who can help me, plz do i am sorta getting ticked off that i havent been able to figure this out even with all the so called help and support stuff.